


Echoes in the Void

by GreenJacket



Category: Warframe
Genre: Multi, Other, The Second Dream, The War Within, Warframe - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 03:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11175810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenJacket/pseuds/GreenJacket
Summary: A lone Warframe sits high up on a ledge, staring down at brothers and sisters, but does not call out. Why?





	Echoes in the Void

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILER WARNING:  
> If you have not played "The Second Dream"/"The War Within" quests from Warframe, DO NOT READ THIS. This does contain spoilers pertaining to the quest lines and the information they reveal about Warframes and the Tenno themselves.

        The Volt Prime sat upon a ledge, high above ruins of a great hall. He was silent, hidden in the darkness of the crumbling ceiling, watching the group below. There were four of them: a Mag, an Inaros, a Nidus, and an Excalibur. They stood around a ruined pit of water and metal. The silence that filled this world was deafening and ready to burst. It was a silence made up of many pieces. In the Void, there had been an ambient energy that charged the air, the pulsation almost tangible, but here in the void of space, there was nothing. It held something else, something heavy, that weighed down upon the Oro. The heaviest silence could not be broken by the simple sound of a breaking wall or the wind whistling past fallen towers, it was the absence of life. The quiet of their footsteps as they approached had not even been enough to break it. He watched only, never making a sound. It was not fear which held him back, but shame.

      Each Warframe calmly contemplated the pool, their thoughts hidden behind masks of metal and flesh. The Excalibur stepped forward to the nearest twisted bulb of metal, the remains of a cryopod, and put his hand to it. It was probably cold, lifeless, nothing but a shell and a reflection of a failed promise, remembered only by the one who sat above it all. If they looked inside it would be empty, the remains of what were inside had been returned to the Void, as they all would be. It was their true home and, though no Tenno would ever speak of it, they all felt the silent pull of the Void calling them back, and the gentle, familiar whispers beneath it. The Excalibur glanced up at where the Volt Prime sat, but saw nothing in the gloom above. He stared for a long moment, before returning his attention back to the mess. The Volt Prime sat still, suddenly aware of the presence behind him. Gentle footsteps were muffled by the caress of velvet slippers upon the dusty ground. A voice that was far sweeter than he had remembered spoke.

      “You could join them, Tenno.”

      “To what purpose? How could I face them?” His response was quiet and devoid of emotion, but the gentle tremble of guilt glided along the surface.

      “They would forgive you.”

      “They do not know of my role in this.”

      “They would not care. They are your brothers and sisters, alone in the universe. You have spent far too long away from them, child.”

      “Would they be so forgiving if they knew that while they fell, I slumbered? What of that, Lotus? Would they embrace me if they knew that as the world crumpled to dust under the weight of time, I dreamed?”

      “You had watched for many, many years, Tenno. You did so, knowing that you would be alone. I could not enter the Void, for it is poison to me and yet you would not willingly sleep as the others did. You resisted its call for so long, but eventually, you gave in. There is no shame in that, child.”

The Lotus looked down at the Warframe, the dull sheen of gold and black coated in the dust of millennia. The form was limp now, and beside it sat a child, for in that moment that was what he was. Just a lonely child in the dark.

      “I dreamt of her, Lotus. The one we hurt, the one who saved us, the one who sang us to our first sleep. I dreamed the quiet lullaby she would hum as she smiled down at us. She loved us, not the greedy lust of the Orokin, but the gentle and sincere love of a mother. Her heart was in her smile and so when we ripped her sight from her, I made a promise deep in mine. I would look over those that she could not.”

      “And so you did. When it came time for us to hide you all in the void, you stayed in these empty halls, wandering among the silence. As the quiet gilded halls became choked with dust, you watched them sleep soundly. All Tenno must sleep and you are no different.”

      She sat quietly down beside him, her feet dangling over the precipice without fear. They were silent for a long time. There was no hurry, there was always time. They sat there until the four below left, letting the silence grow again. The Tenno, the child, finally looked up at the Lotus, the mother sitting beside him.

      “Would they truly forgive me?” Tears streamed down from luminescent eyes, glittering with a strange light. The Lotus smiled gently, a smile that spoke of a mother’s love and sorrow. And in it, he saw _her_ smile. More tears came unbidden and he embraced the Lotus. She did not hesitate as she wrapped her own arms around him. Deep in her heart, she felt it, the feeling she longed for most out of everything in the universe. The feeling of a mother’s love as she holds her child.

      “Of course they would.”

      And when the tears had stopped the silence returned, but it was an oppressive silence no longer. Now it was an impatient one, one that longed to be broken and feel the hum of life again. Still, the two sat there embraced.

      “Thank you,” he paused, “Mother.”


End file.
